"A map of the city" by Thom Gunn
Thom Gunn wrote his poem, A Map of the City, about the outside appearance of a city upon a hill. This poem can be related to Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, when Jonathon Harker is traveling to Transylvannia on a business trip. In both the novel and the poem, the cities are seen as average yet great places; however, for Harker this is not the case and the hidden mysteries of the city come out through his journey. Yet, it is the sense of innocence that the city has in Gunn’s poem that juxtaposes Harker’s character and who he is as a character in the novel. In a lot of ways Harker is seen as an average person, yet innocent in his doings as the city around him consists of many warning signs about what he is about to endure. Likewise, the city Gunn portrays is characterized as innocent through the outside eye of the speaker who sees the city from a top a hill, not for what is really going on within the city. Both the Harker and the city appear innocent and common in everyday life, however, it is the hidden meaning in both that explains that innocence is not always what it seems and that to truly understand the society around you, you must keep an open mind to what is going on and to what you are seeing. The speaker in Gunn’s poem sees the city as if it has “endless potential”; likewise, Harker’s character is portrayed as somebody who has “endless potential” to do good in the world around him, but his lack of openness to what he is seeing, just as the speaker’s lack of openness in the poem, stunts them into seeing what is truly going around in the world they live in.
Thom Gunn wrote his poem, A Map of the City, about the outside appearance of a city upon a hill. This poem can be related to Bram Stoker’s, Dracula, when Jonathon Harker is traveling to Transylvannia on a business trip. In both the novel and the poem, the cities are seen as average yet great places; however, for Harker this is not the case and the hidden mysteries of the city come out through his journey. Yet, it is the sense of innocence that the city has in Gunn’s poem that juxtaposes Harker’s character and who he is as a character in the novel. In a lot of ways Harker is seen as an average person, yet innocent in his doings as the city around him consists of many warning signs about what he is about to endure. Likewise, the city Gunn portrays is characterized as innocent through the outside eye of the speaker who sees the city from a top a hill, not for what is really going on within the city. Both the Harker and the city appear innocent and common in everyday life, however, it is the hidden meaning in both that explains that innocence is not always what it seems and that to truly understand the society around you, you must keep an open mind to what is going on and to what you are seeing. The speaker in Gunn’s poem sees the city as if it has “endless potential”; likewise, Harker’s character is portrayed as somebody who has “endless potential” to do good in the world around him, but his lack of openness to what he is seeing, just as the speaker’s lack of openness in the poem, stunts them into seeing what is truly going around in the world they live in.